Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvement of an electronic control device including a control unit stored in an airtight housing and wiring conductors connecting input/output control terminals provided in the control unit to input/output equipment outside the airtight housing.
Description of the Background Art
A mechanically and electrically integrated type electronic control device which is directly attached to a storage container of a transmission embedded with an actuator, such as a linear solenoid valve for hydraulic control or other electromagnetic valves, has been widely put into practical use. For example, referring to FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1 entitled “CONTROL MODULE”, a control module 100 which is an electronic control device described herein has an ATCU 10 which is a control circuit unit (a control unit described herein), and a wiring unit 20 which connects a terminal of the control circuit unit and a connector 28. The control circuit unit 10 and the wiring unit 20 are stored between a cover 30 and a base 40. The wiring unit 20 has a resin-molded portion 24 in which the vicinity of the central portion of bus bars 22 made of a plurality of conductors is molded with resin. The resin-molded portion serves as a rigid body region and a portion where the bus bars are exposed serves as a flexible region.
The base 40 is shaped to be in contact with the cover 30 in a state where the cover 30 and the base 40 are fitted to each other, protrusions 42 are formed to be arranged between the bus bars 22 in the flexible region, and contact portions between the cover 30 and the protrusions 42 of the base 40 are fixed. In this way, a control module with improved productivity and workability is obtained.
According to FIGS. 1 and 4 of Patent Document 2 entitled “CONTROL DEVICE OF AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION”, a TCU 1 (a control unit described herein) is mounted on a metal plate (dissipation member) 2, a resin first housing 3 constituting a first wiring unit A and a second housing 4 constituting a second wiring unit B are fastened and fixed to the metal plate 2, a lead frame 9 arranged on the left side of the TCU 1 is connected to an external connector unit 16 for an engine control unit through a third terminal 10, and a lead frame 9 arranged on the right side of the TCU 1 is connected to a circuit board 7 of a sensor unit through a first terminal (relay terminal) 11 and a second terminal 12.
The lead frames 9 are connected to circuit patterns of the TCU 1 by bonding wires in advance, and portions exposed from sealing resin become lead terminals 31, the lead terminals 31 are bonded to the first terminal 11 and the third terminal 10 by laser welding, and the first terminal 11 and the second terminal 12 are bonded to each other by laser welding. Bent portions 32 or 34 and 35 for stress absorption are provided in the lead terminals 31 or the first to third terminals 9 to 11, and an insulating material 36 or 46 which is an insulating adhesive material is applied, thereby preventing the terminals from being short-circuited by a conductive foreign substance. With this, it is possible to reduce production cost with a small space, and to reliably insulate adjacent terminals from each other.
[Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2005/050805 (FIG. 1, Abstract)
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-2012-002242 (FIGS. 1 and 4, Abstract, Paragraphs 0042 to 0046 and 0054 to 0060)
According to Patent Document 1, when assembling the control module 100 of this embodiment, a plurality of bus bars 22 of the wiring unit 20 are arranged between a plurality of protrusions 42 of the base 40, the ATCU 10 is stored inside a frame body 26 of the wiring unit 20, and one end of a plurality of bus bars 22 and conduction terminals 14 of the ATCU 10 are connected by weldbonding or the like.
The cover 30 is placed on the thus-obtained sub-assembly, the cover 30 and the base 40 are fitted to each other, and contact portions between the upper surfaces of the protrusions 42 of the base 40 and the lower surface of the cover 30 are welded.
Similarly, the upper surface and the lower surface of the frame body 26 are welded to the cover 30 and the base 40 in contact portions between the cover 30 and the base 40.
Accordingly, the input/output control terminals of the control unit and the wiring conductors described herein are welded, and the cover and the base constituting the airtight housing are welded. For this reason, a welding machine is required in the assembly line, and it is difficult to detach the assembled control unit in a nondestructive manner, whereby it is necessary to cut the cover and the base and to cut the welded terminal portion in order to perform maintenance and replacement.
According to Patent Document 2, the insulation materials 36 and 46 which are an insulating adhesive material are applied to conductive portions exposed from a molding resin material while excluding the concept of the airtight housing in which the cover and the base are weldbonded. Meanwhile, since the input/output control terminals of the control unit and the wiring conductors described herein are welded, a welding machine is required in the assembly line, and it is difficult to detach the assembled control unit in a nondestructive manner, whereby it is necessary to cut the cover and the base and to cut the welded terminal portion in order to perform maintenance and replacement.
There is a problem in that the work of applying the insulating adhesive material becomes inefficient, and it becomes difficult to disassemble the metal plate 2, the first housing 3, and the second housing 4.